Before the Rise
by tosparkfreedom
Summary: Prequel to the upcoming RiverClan's Rise. Oakfur of ThunderClan and Rippletail of RiverClan were banished from their Clans for being mates. They travel far from home and have kits. But then fate tears the family apart, and Rippletail must make a decision


Before the Rise

Disclaimer: Of course, Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter. Unfortunately. The cats within the story were my creation, so please let me know if you want to use them.

PART ONE

"We have a new litter of kits, as well as two new warriors, Smokefur and Cedarfoot." Polite mews of congratulation echoed through the hollow. "That concludes ThunderClan's report," the skinny black tom added. He stepped back to allow a dark gray she-cat to step forward. "Your turn, Runningstar."

She twitched her ears toward the leader. "Thank you, Ebonystar," she meowed. "Prey is running well in WindClan-"

She paused, surprised, as a large brown tom rose to his feet and let out a loud yowl.

Ebonystar hissed. "Stripetail! Quiet!"

Stripetail flicked his ears. "I would, Ebonystar," he said smoothly, "but there's something that all clans should hear."

"Whatever you want to say, you shall discuss it with me in private before you speak at Gatherings," Ebonystar growled back.

"Hang on," Moonstar rasped. "What's your warrior talking about, Ebonystar?"

"Disobedience," Stripetail said before his leader could reply. "Warriors shirking the warrior code. But no worries for you, Moonstar- ShadowClan wasn't involved."

"They better not be," Moonstar muttered, as Ebonystar hissed, "Enough!"

Runningstar laid her tail on Ebonystar's shoulder. "Let the warrior speak, as it seems so important to him."

Having received the WindClan leader's approval, Stripetail plunged on. "Two Clans have one warrior who has deserted the code and put all the Clans at risk. I must reveal the secret or we will be destroyed. The traitors are Rippletail of RiverClan – and Oakfur of ThunderClan!"

A heartbeat of dead silence.

Then the shocked whispers began.

The RiverClan leader, Sunstar, padded to the front of the Great Rock and peered down at his Clan. "Rippletail?" he called.

Any words the brown tabby she-cat may have spoken in response were lost in the uproar that suddenly erupted in the hollow. ThunderClan and RiverClan warriors were leaping upon Oakfur, hissing with fury. Oakfur fended off the first three with powerful swipes of his claws, but was quickly overwhelmed. Rippletail was surrounded by angry queens; the warriors backed away from her in distaste. On the Great Rock, Sunstar and Ebonystar shared looks of disbelief. Runningstar shook her head sadly. Moonstar watched the chaos with amusement.

Above it all, the night sky remained clear. ThunderClan and RiverClan were going to destroy each other, and StarClan approved.

The group limped into camp. Lilytail, the medicine cat, had already been alerted by an apprentice sent ahead by the deputy. She emerged from her den with a mouthful of herbs, followed by Poppytail, one of the warriors, who had a paw swathed in cobwebs. "Who's hurt worst?" Lilytail mewed calmly, and when Splotchpelt signalled to a barely conscious Rainleaf, Lilytail set to work, cleaning wounds and chewing up poultices.

Sunstar signalled his senior warriors to him and padded toward his den. They formed a tight circle near the entrance and began speaking in low tones. Meanwhile word was spreading through camp. Kits bounded out from the nursery, only to be shooed back by the queens; the warriors who had stayed behind emerged from their den to find out what was happening; the apprentices grouped together to discuss the battle and display their hard-earned scratches. Lilytail and Poppytail remained busily caring for the wounded. Rippletail, sporting a new shoulder wound, skirted the edge of the clearing and hid herself in the warriors' den. She curled up in her nest, staring at the roof of reeds. If she listened hard, she could hear the quiet murmur of the river over the noise of her Clanmates.

All too soon, her leader's yowl sounded.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join together in the clearing for a Clan meeting!"

Rippletail slowly pushed herself to her paws and slipped out of the den. She slipped to the edge of the crowd, noting how most of the cats glanced once at her before turning away. She tried not to flinch and stared instead at Sunstar, who was perched on a rock at the head of the group.

Longpaw sauntered past her on his way to sit down. "Seen any RiverClan warriors lately?" he hissed in her ear. He let out a little mrrow of amusement as he went to sit beside his mentor.

Rippletail didn't reply. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.

"Cats of RiverClan," Sunstar began formally, "It seems there is sad business I must attend to. One of our warriors has forsaken the code, and it could have caused our destruction tonight."

Rippletail bowed her head.

"We must preserve the honor of our Clan, for without it, what is the warrior code?"

Heads were nodding in agreement, and she felt her Clanmates' eyes on her. Hot, angry eyes.

"Rippletail, you shirked the warrior code for your own selfishness," Sunstar meowed.

Rippletail wanted to sink through the sandy ground and disappear. Instead, she forced herself to look up and meet her leader's steady amber gaze. In it she found no true anger. Sunstar was merely doing his duty as leader and protector of the Clan.

She had almost destroyed her own Clan.

"Rippletail," Sunstar continued, "Have you anything to say in your defense?"

She hesitated. Was there anything to say, really? She could beg for forgiveness and Sunstar might accept it, but her Clanmates never would. Rainleaf had been badly injured tonight. What would the she-cat say to her right now?

She whispered, "No, Sunstar," and bowed her head again.

Sunstar let out a small sigh. "Very well. Rippletail, I have no choice but to exile you."

A sudden wail came from the knot of elders on the other side of the group. "No!" screeched a gray and brown she-cat, who rushed across the clearing toward Rippletail. "No! Sunstar! You can't!"

Rippletail wondered if her heart could break any further. It was her mother.

Sunstar shook his head at the elder. "Rippletail broke the warrior code," he mewed simply.

"Rippletail!" her mother meowed desperately. "How could you?"

"I-I didn't m-mean to, Pinkflower," Rippletail whispered. "It was a mistake. It was wrong."

"She knows it was wrong, Sunstar!" Pinkflower pleaded.

Sunstar shook his head once more. "Splotchpelt, Jaywing, make sure she leaves RiverClan territory." He turned and padded off toward his den. He disappeared inside it.

Pinkflower mewed in distress, her green eyes staring at her daughter's amber ones.

"C'mon," Splotchpelt snapped as he neared the two. "You heard Sunstar. Rippletail, go."

Rippletail pressed her nose briefly into her mother's shoulder, then turned for the willow trees. She padded across the clearing one last time, slid under the branches of the willows one final time, and turned toward FourTrees.

One more time.

Rippletail curled tighter against Oakfur inside the hollow log that they shared as a den.

She'd met up with him at Highstones. Oakfur had nearly died at the Gathering, and had fled instead of trying his luck in the ThunderClan camp. Rippletail couldn't blame him. He had been badly injured. Rippletail didn't know much about herbs. She had collected cobwebs to stop his bleeding, marigold to put on his wounds, and even managed to find some dock leaves when their paws got sore. She prayed to StarClan the wounds wouldn't get infected. He was too weak to do much more than sleep. She was doing all the hunting for both of them.

She was also thankful to StarClan, for the den they now had and the prey-rich place they had found. Those were absolutely essential things to have when kits were on the way. They would come soon, very soon. Rippletail was already prepared. She had a nest ready, and fresh-kill stocked. She just wished she had Lilytail. She wished she knew more about herbs. What herbs did a nursing queen need? What kind of herbs did the kits need? Did kits need herbs? What if something was wrong with Oakfur's wounds? What if the kits were born sick?

For the thousandth time, Rippletail wished she were back home in her Clan.

Morning light filtered into the log through the hole in the top. Rippletail rose wearily. She took a quick sniff of her mate's wounds. They seemed to be healing nicely; she hoped they were. She would change the poultice later when Oakfur was awake.

She slipped out of the den. She stretched, then settled down for a morning wash. As she licked a paw and drew it over her ears, she glimpsed movement out of the corner of her eye. Oakfur had managed to stand and hobble to the mouth of the log den. Rippletail jumped up and hurried to him. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"'M alright," Oakfur murmured, his tone suggesting he was anything but.

Rippletail threw him a look and helped him lie down so that he was halfway in the log, halfway out. "I'm going to hunt," she meowed. "Would you like something from the fresh-kill pile?"

"Sure."

Rippletail crossed the little clearing and stopped at the foot of a large boulder. She swept a layer of leaves out of the way to reveal a hole in the ground, half-full with fresh-kill. She pulled out a squirrel, scraped the leaves back over the pile, and brought her mate the prey. Then she headed out to hunt.

She trudged down the forest paths, scenting carefully for prey. They had been so lucky to find this place. Here, the prey acted as if it had never seen a cat before. Easy forest hunting for a RiverClan cat.

A_ former_ RiverClan cat, Rippletail reminded herself.

A vole scuffled at the roots of a hickory tree. Rippletail froze. She slunk forward until she was a leap away and struck. She purred in satisfaction. _I'll get a fish next_, she decided, and turned east.

The kits were born two days later. She hugged them close to her as they nursed. It had been a long and difficult birth, but now she had three beautiful kits.

"What will you call them?" Oakfur asked softly.

"The smallest one will be Rosekit," she answered, nodding to a brown and white she-cat. "The white she-cat will be Whitekit. I don't know what to call the tom...what do you think?"

Oakfur studied the big brown tabby kit. "How about Thornkit?"

"The kind of name a ThunderClan cat might have," Rippletail purred. "I like it."

They opened their eyes sometime later. Both Oakfur and Rippletail were shocked to see Whitekit's eyes. Instead of amber or blue or green, she had one blue eye and one green eye. Rippletail wondered if Lilytail would have gotten a sign about this from StarClan. She had never seen a cat with two different eye colors before.

Meanwhile Oakfur was regaining his strength with each passing day. Five days after the kits were born he could walk all the way to the stream and back without tiring. He could even hunt a little. Rippletail thanked StarClan for his swift recovery.

When the kits were nine days old, Rippletail allowed them to play outside if they stayed in the clearing. She used this opportunity to speak to Oakfur while the kits were distracted.

"What if we went back?" she murmured.

Oakfur twitched his ears. "You know we can't."

"It's been three moons. I'm sure the Clans have calmed down."

"My Clan seemed pretty furious. They tried to kill me. I'm not letting them have a second try."

Rippletail watched Thornkit leap for a passing butterfly. "Then join RiverClan."

"The other Clan that tried to kill me."

Rippletail shot him a look. "Fine. WindClan?"

Oakfur turned to face her. "A RiverClan cat on the moor," he meowed. "Rippletail, why do you want to go back so badly?"

Rippletail looked down and shifted her paws. "I miss RiverClan," she admitted. "I'd feel safer if the kits were in a real nursery, and I always worry about not having a medicine cat."

Oakfur's eyes softened. "There's no need to worry," he meowed gently. "I can fight off anything that threatens those kits. And you know lots of herbs."

"Barely enough," Rippletail muttered.

"Enough to help me," Oakfur responded. He moved closer and licked her shoulder, a comforting gesture. "Quit worrying so much. Your muzzle will turn gray." He purred in amusement.

Rippletail flicked her ears in annoyance at his bad joke.


End file.
